Cruising to Cardwell – Day 10
Day Ten of The Great Rattler Run
It certainly has been an eventful morning. I’ve been in The Rattler for the last 7 1/2 hours and I’m currently ahead of the support crew by over 2 hours!
We left the motel at 5 am, and about 30 minutes into the trip, the car trailer was throwing off sparks. The boys all pulled over and found the inside wheel bearing on one side had collapsed. It was still not yet 6 am, when the other support vehicle turned around and went back to Rocky to try and source a new wheel bearing. After waiting until 7.30 for the shop to open, they got the part plus a spare and headed back to the trailer. They changed the wheel bearing and moved on.
Meanwhile, The Rattler is cruising up the Pacific Highway when I felt the vehicle pulling to one side. It didn’t take me long to work out that we had another flat, the third one on the rear outside. I changed the tyre and moved on. But not before I made my mind up to swap out the cheese cutters tyres for the mud fats at the first available opportunity. Whilst I do prefer to keep The Rattler’s period appearance, safety always must come first. So I’m going to dress the old girl up in a mini skirt, even at the risk of impersonating a hot rod!
But that isn’t going to happen until we all make it safely to Cardwell for the night. Whilst I’ve been typing this message, the boys have phoned in, reporting that the other wheel bearing is running very hot. When the truck pulls up behind them, they are going to replace it with the spare that Trevor had the foresight to buy this morning. Good work Trevor!
Meanwhile, I’m cruising along and heading towards Inkerman.
I certainly hope we don’t have any trouble in the next 3 1/2 hours on the way to Cardwell as I’ll have to wait about 3 or more hours for my two support vehicles to arrive. The third vehicle is only carrying the camera crew and their gear, who are chasing us at the moment. I’ve slowed down the speed by 10 kmph to allow everyone to gain a little ground.
UPDATE:
I finally made it to Cardwell!
Some statistics: 12.5 hours, 884 kms, 2 x 5 minute fuel stops, 1 x 20 minute flat tyre stop, 10 minutes sightseeing at the top of Castle Hill in Townsville, 1 sausage roll and 1 of the worst coffees I’ve ever had!
It wasn’t just a long day for Shaneen and I in The Rattler. The last of my sweeps arrived 1.5 hours after The Rattler. The boys were racing against the clock to pull in to Cardwell as fast as they could as they were carrying my diabetes medication! Oops, did I hear someone say that it was in Shaneen’s handbag in the Landcruiser? The same Landcruiser that was towing the car trailer? As a result, I couldn’t risk eating anything after breakfast for fear of raising my blood sugar.
All in all, yesterday was still a great day. The scenery was absolutely stunning and is noticeably changing as we drive further into Queensland’s Tropical North. Just see for yourself!
So I’ll sign of for now and shout out a big thanks to everyone for a job well done yesterday.
Hooroo
Rod
PS And the BFGoodrich Tires mud fats are on! Only two for now. The others will go on further up the Cape.
